


Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: A BNHA Short Story Collection

by Extravagantly_Mediocre



Category: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Anime Logic, Gen, Horror, Horror Logic, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, Will Contain Errors, character suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 11,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23366989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Extravagantly_Mediocre/pseuds/Extravagantly_Mediocre
Summary: When Fumikage discovers a mysterious book of scary stories in an old house he’d visit with a friend, he finds that strange things begin happening and people begin disappearing. Every time he opens the book, a new story is written. Every time a new story is written, another person suffers the tale. With his peers dying left and right because of a haunted tome, he must destroy the book before it’s his turn. Everything was normal. And then it wasn’t.Happy reading!
Comments: 15
Kudos: 24





	1. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for deciding to read this! You don’t know how much it means to me for you to take the time out of your day to read my crap. Thanks again!

It was a book. A big, brown, probably leather bound book titled simply: “Scary Stories.” Tokoyami looked it over. It was probably old too. Was this the only thing possibly of interest here in this bedroom? Probably. He’d been wandering through an old abandoned house for a while, one that belonged to the Komu family. He’d come here with Kuroiro a lot to experience the eerie atmosphere together, but Kuroiro was busy today.  


The Komu family all mysteriously disappeared in the late 1920’s, every single one of them, and the only one left was their house servant, who was convicted of dark magic. Not only but, according to some local tales, their youngest daughter, Shimai, was locked in her basement bedroom her whole life. Though she never went to school, she learned very basic skills and read scary stories to the neighbourhood kids, and Tokoyami was holding her book. That’s when Tokoyami noticed the time. He quickly backpacked the book and rushed back to UA.  


When Tokoyami entered his dorm, the first thing he did was text Kuroiro to get him over there. Once he did, Tokoyami told him about his discovery.  


“You know that abandoned house we always go to? That one? The Komu household?” Tokoyami began, “I found Shimai’s book.”  


“Nice find. You think we could still read it?”  


“Maybe. Hopefully the pages aren’t all wiped out and gross.” Tokoyami said as he flipped open the first page. There, printed again, were the simple two words: “Scary Stories.”  


“This book had some very either uncreative or literal publishers.” Kuroiro remarked. Tokoyami shrugged and turned to the first story.  


Except...there wasn’t any story. It was blank. Tokoyami slimmed through the rest of the book. It was all blank. Disappointed, he went back when- he noticed something move on the page.  


“Wait- What the-“ Tokoyami muttered as he flipped to the page. On it, blood red handwriting appeared. The book was writing itself. First, the simple title of “The Drum” materialized at the top.  


Tokoyami and Kuroiro stares in awe as they watched the words formed all over the page, row by row, letter by letter. What was going on? Then, Kuroiro noticed a familiar name and pointed it out, for the first sentence read:  


“Tenya was walking in the woods.”


	2. The Drum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this one’s based off of a story in the original series known as “Faster and Faster.”
> 
> The title could be taken in a different way, however. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Tenya was walking in the woods. It had been a busy day for him, with all the schoolwork and housekeeping he’d done, and Tenya had decided to take a walk. As he strolled through a clearing, he could smell the aroma of Japanese pine in the cool springtime air as the sunshine trickled in through a few places the branches missed. He took another step and felt the satisfying crunch of sticks beneath his foot. That’s when he noticed something of a darker shade of brown out of the corner of his eye. As he turned to look at it, it looked like a small barrel. It was a drum. A small, dark brown, probably old drum with red strings binding the lamb skin.  


Curious, Tenya walked over and picked it up, looking it over. Then, he felt the strong urge to beat it. So he did. The drum made a nice, strong, hollow sound under his fingers, which echoed through the woods. Tenya smiles and beat it again, a bit harder. He slipped it under his arm and began tapping a rhythm on it, continuing his walk.  


After some time, Tenya felt a bit uneasy. He thought he’d heard two drums. That’s silly, he told himself, it’s just echoing throughout this place. But that’s when he was made sure there were two drums, it was coming from right behind him. As Tenya turned around, he saw something whip past his head and lodge itself in a tree trunk. An arrow. Then, a horn sounded and suddenly the sounds of horse hooves and men shouting surrounded him. More arrows were fired, fortunately missing. Tenya turned and ran.  


As fast as Tenya bolted, the voices followed close behind. Another arrow landed near him, and he could swear it was translucent. At this point, Tenya could see the edge of the forest, where the field starts. Maybe if he reached there, these phantoms hunters and their spectral arrows would go away. He kept running and, as he reached the edge of the forest, a pain shot through his back and he fell forward, dead. The noise stopped. There was no drum anymore. There were no hunters anymore. There were no arrows anymore. There was only Tenya, lying in a pool of his own blood.


	3. The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for this one while walking home one day in a light trickle of rain thinking about a skin condition known as toxic epidermal necropsy. Don’t search it up, the skin peels away in layers and it’s not pretty.

Tokoyami, still processing what happened, set the book aside. He had watched a book write itself with a character being someone in his class, Iida. He set the book aside and walked to his door.  


“Where’re you’re going?” Kuroiro asked.  


“I must go check something. To make sure nothing is...amiss.” with that, Tokoyami left Kuroiro with the book. A foolish decision. Kuroiro turned to the tome. Curious, he picked it up and flipped the page and stared in amazement and curiosity as the blood red text appeared again, this time at the top spelling out “The Storm.”  


“Shoto got caught outside at a bad time.”  


Shoto got caught outside at a bad time. He was visiting his family, or rather who he considered his family, today and would leave tomorrow. His mom was making supper and was out of meat, Shoto was sent out to get some. It has began to rain, a drizzle at first, but now the raindrops were coming down on him like bullets. It was alone and kind of dark on the street, but Shoto didn’t mind. If anyone tried to attack him he’d happily pull out his well-refined quirk. Maybe he had something to thank who should be his father for. Finally, bag in hand, he reached his family’s humble abode and walked inside, soaked.  


“What took you so long?” Fuyumi asked.  


Shoto just shrugged. “There was a line at the store. It started raining as I got back.” Fuyumi took the bag and handed it to her mother, who made a meat stew. At dinner, the Todoroki family ate in awkward silence, despite Fuyumi’s best efforts to lighten the mood. Then Shoto’ hand began to itch. Maybe is was a bug bite. But the itch spread up his arm and grew worse.  


“Was it the rain?” Shoto said, concerned.  


“Maybe. You know how pollution is these days.” Natsuo suggested. Shoto eventually went to bed, eventually drifting away into sleep.  


It was past midnight when Shoto awoke. His bedsheets were cold and wet and his body burned all over. As he stood up, his clothing rubbing against his skin caused excruciating pain. Shoto walked over for the light switch and flipped it on, causing a shock of agony to shoot up his arm. His bed was covered in blood. He was covered in blood. Shoto held his arm in front of him and was shocked when he realized it was covered in holes, big bloody splotches where skin should have been. What was in that rain?  


As Shoto hurried down the hallway, the floor felt like razors cutting at his feet. He didn’t even care about the blood trail he was leaving behind.  


“This is all a nightmare,” Shoto told himself, “a very realistic nightmare. Come on, wake up!” As he reached the washroom and pushed open the door, the knob felt like fire, the door hot metal. He stumbled in and flipped on the lights, once again hurting himself. He stared in the mirror in terror and shock as he watched his skin peel off, revealing the raw layer underneath. He felt dizzy, and crumbled. On the floor, in pain, he murmured one last time, “wake...up...” He never did.


	4. The Lump

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is based off of the story in the original series “The Toe.” Yeah, Kirishima ate a toe. Yeah, it’s gross.

Tokoyami strode down the hall to Iida’s door, giving it a knock. No answer. A bit worried, he searched for Midoriya, who he found as well in his dorm. 

“Have you seen Iida today?” Tokoyami asked. 

“He left a few hours ago with Todoroki, dunno where he is now,” Midoriya responded, “neither of them have returned yet.” 

Tokoyami’s eyes widened. Iida? Gone? And Todoroki too? This can’t be good. He hurried back to his dorm and found Kuroiro flipping through some more pages. 

“Kuroiro,” he almost screamed desperately, “don’t flip anymore pages.” 

But it was too late. The crimson text was appearing again. Tokoyami snatched the book and began tearing out the pages, but no matter how many he removed the words kept regenerating. This book was out for blood and it was going to get it. On the next page, “The Lump” appeared at the header. 

“Eijiro decided to try something new.” 

Eijiro decided to try something new. He wanted to expand his boundaries a bit, do something he hasn’t done before, so he decided to buy some of those “Mystery Meat” packages, a twist on those middle school cafeteria clichés, from a local store. They come in big white Styrofoam packages, and inside there would be an assortment of raw meat wrapped in plastic. Chicken legs, pork liver, trout, there’s a whole list. 

Eijiro got back one day with two bags in his hand and emptied them out on a counter. Two baby octopuses, beef shank, two chicken feet, five lamb cubes, three chicken wings, a pig heart, and a strange lump of meat. It was a bit darker shade of red, almost brown. Eijiro brushed it off as just a leftover cut. He decides to make some meat platter or something for the night. As he boiled up the water for the octopuses, he thought the lump of meat looked like a toe, not that pretty much every random circular lump of meat looks like one. 

Eventually, Eijiro had finished making his dinner and he was starving. He didn’t really know how to cook that lump of meat, or what it even was, so he just boiled it like most of the others. With his chopsticks, he picked up a lamb cube and practically threw it into his mouth. Damn, that was good. Maybe he had some culinary talent after all. The octopus tasted just as good, the fishy hint was gone and had been replaced with a slight spice. Eijiro had to pat himself on the back, this was better than anytime he’d made before. He eventually finished it all, except for the mystery lump. 

Eijiro picked it up too and gave it a squish. It was kind of tough. He tried to bite into it, but had a bit of trouble doing so, so he pulled out a knife and sliced into it. The inside was also brown, with a small bone in the middle. 

“Where’d this lump come from?” Eijiro thought. He removed the bone and popped the lump into his mouth. It was chewy, and the skin was still tough, but eventually he chewed it enough to be able to swallow it. He washed his dishes and decided to take a walk outside. The evening air was cool and the setting sun had just started paining the sky with shades of scarlet and tangerine. 

Eijiro was just minding his business when he thought he heard someone whisper, “where is my toe?” 

“It’s just the wind,” Eijiro thought. But a sickening feeling began to grow inside him. He paced a few more meters before the whispers were heard again, this time louder. “Where is my toe?” 

Eijiro tried to shrug it off but started growing uncomfortable. “Where is my toe?” The voice seemed to come from right behind him. As something seemed to brush against his ankle, he made a run for the dorms. The thing was bony and cold, like fingers about to grab him and drag him somewhere. But the voice followed. “Where is my toe?” Toe? He had no idea. 

That’s when Eijiro realized, “toe? Is it talking about that lump of meat?” Crap, I ate a toe?” He thought he’d throw up, but managed to keep it all in. He made it back to the building, got in his dorm, and locked the door. It was almost curfew. “There’s no way it can get me in here. It doesn’t even know my name.” 

But the voice seemed to come from outside his window. “Where is my toe?” It had followed him. 

“It can’t get me. The doors are all locked.” Eijiro thought. But the front doors swung open and the voice came from the common room: “where is my toe?” 

Eijiro leaped under his bed. “I don’t have your toe, I don’t have your toe!” 

But now it was coming up the stairwell, “where is my toe?” Eijiro held his eyes shut. If he went to sleep, he’d wake up the next day and this would be over! The door at the of the hall swung open as well and the voice rang down the hallway, his hallway, “where is my toe?” Eijiro heard heavy, slow, dragged footsteps creeping down the hallway until the stopped in front of his door. “Where is my toe?” 

”My door is locked. I double-checked, even, it’s locked!” Eijiro thought, which was a shame because his door opened up too. “Where. Is. My. Toe?” Slowly and almost paralyzed, Eijiro peeked our from under the bed, expecting some kind of rotting corpse to be standing in the doorway. But he saw nothing. His door was open and the light from the hallway shone in. There was no monster after all. 

Relieved, Eijiro was about to crawl out of his hiding place when something grabbed him by his shoulder. It was the same bony fingers from just a few minutes ago. He turned around and came face to face with a skull, is decaying flesh barely clinging onto its bones. It screamed, in the same raspy voice, “YOU HAVE IT!” 

Eijiro yelled back just as loud and attempted to roll out and escape, but the bony fingers wrapped around his ankle and began pulling him back. Eijiro desperately clawed at the floor, trying to free himself, but he was dragged into the darkness, never to be seen again.


	5. The False Alarm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was to (wrongly) reassure Tokoyami that everything was fine. It wasn’t. From here, he’ll set off three more deaths from reading the book. Anime and horror logic fusion!

“No, no no no this is perilous,” Tokoyami said as he stood to leave the room. He ran through the door and sprinted down the hallway to Kirishima’s dorm to check up on him and when he knocked, Kirishima opened up. 

“Oh, thank goodness you’re still here,” Tokoyami signed, relieved. 

“Uh, I am? Yeah, what about it?” Kirishima said back, confused. 

“Listen, you can’t go to town today and get some meat in some Styrofoam container, alright?” 

“What? Why’re you acting so weird?” 

“Just trust me, alright?” 

“Well, I’ve already got some meat, so-“ 

“Wait, what?” Tokoyami pushed past Kirishima and barged into him room. 

“Hey, what’re you-“ 

“I’m saving you.” Tokoyami found a foam container and emptied it out. Two baby octopuses, beef shank, two chicken feet, five lamb cubes, three chicken wings, and a pig heart. But no lump of meat. What? Tokoyami sighed. Maybe he was just overreacting. What’re the chances these would happen in real life, anyways? 

“My greatest apologies for the disturbance,” Tokoyami said. 

“It’s fine, dude. Get some rest.” With that, Kirishima shut the door and sent Tokoyami on his way. “I know he’s supposed to be dark and all but that’s just weird,” Kirishima muttered to himself as he prepared to throw the empty container away. But he spotted something that hadn’t fallen out when Tokoyami spilled out the other meat. It was a strange lump, a darker shade of red, almost brown. It looked like a toe.


	6. The Dress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was based off of the story “The White Satin Nightgown” from the original series. Sometimes, it’s not just phantom arrows and undead corpses you need to look out for.

When Tokoyami got back to his dorm, Kuroiro left shortly afterwards. Maybe these were only coincidental. It still didn’t explain the writing, though. Now that his fear of the occurrences happening outside the pages were nullified, Tokoyami felt more comfortable with it. However, he still decided it would be best not to touch it. Standing on a chair, he tried to put it on the top of a cabinet, but leaned a bit too far, causing him and the book to fall. The book fell open and on a new page. The vermillion cursive spread upon the page again. Tokoyami was still a bit unsettled by it, but decided, after what had happened a few minutes ago, it’d be okay. 

“Ochaco didn’t have anything to wear to the dance.” 

Ochaco didn’t have anything to wear to that dance. Which was a shame, because she really wanted to go. It was a single’s dance anyways, so she definitely didn’t have to, but it would be fun to hang out with her friends there. So, she went out to the nearby town to get a dress. Not having a whole lot of money, she got a simple white satin gown from a thrift shop. It was clean and had no tears. The satin had a gloss to it as well and looked very good in the light. Ochaco was happy with it. 

On the night of the dance, she appeared through the doors in the gown she so proudly wore, as well as a flower brooch in her hair, a white lily to go with the ivory dress. And boy, did she have quite the night. She danced around with Izuku, then Tsuyu, then Hanta as well, along with many others. By the end of the dance, she felt nauseous and had a small headache. Ochaco shrugged it off as fatigue from dancing so much. So, she drifted off to sleep in the dress. 

The next morning, she was dead. The coroner and autopsy revealed that the original seller had stolen this dress from a dead body, and traces of embalming fluid were found in the fabric, as well as in Ochaco’s blood stream. It had seeped through her skin and entered her blood when she sweat so much, stopping her blood from flowing.


	7. The Cameo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one isn’t actually based off of a story from the SStTitD series, it’s actually derived from another horror story from horror writer Laura Purcell, also titled “The Cameo.”

“Rather fascinating how these names all correspond to people in real life, and we have that dance tomorrow too. What kind of magic is this?” Tokoyami muttered. Without really thinking, he flipped the page again. And, as expected, the blood red handwriting appeared again. This time, the words “The Cameo” filled the header and smaller text appeared, as routined.

“Tsuyu had scored quite the find.” 

Tsuyu had scored quite the fine. It was a small, elegantly carved wooden box with a polished finish. But, it wasn’t the box that was the only treasure. Once the brass lock was undone and the container was opened, the scarlet velvet interior was revealed, with a small pit where a petite antique pin-on brooch sat. It was a marble brooch, with a complexion white as snow with jet black streaks here and there. It was framed with what looked to be gold, along with one of those fancy-looking safety pins you’d find on Scouts badges. Tsuyu picked it up between two fingers. It shimmered in the sunlight tricking in through the window. What a valuable object to have just been tossed in the trash! 

In the centre of the brooch sat the image of a woman’s left side, not extending below her shoulder. She must’ve been no older than twenty, maybe twenty-five, but she seemed so thin, so dead. Her curly hair was fashioned up in a bun, with a couple strands allowed to run down past her ear. She was quite the beauty, and the meticulous detailing boasted it. Tsuyu decided she’d wear it on the left side of her chest, just beside the extensive collar, to class the next day. 

The sun rose again and, just as she had promised herself the day before, Tsuyu fastened the brooch to her uniform and entered class. That day, she got quite a few complements about the brooch and how it fit with her look. Tsuyu tried not to get too proud, though, that wasn’t her thing. At lunch, however, something strange happened. She was hungry, starving, but refused to eat. She couldn’t eat, even if she forced herself to. As if her hunger disappeared at the sight of food. Strange, must’ve been something else she ate. The rest of the day she felt increasingly tired. 

That night, Tsuyu had a nightmare, that she woke up and couldn’t move. Her room was dark. Then, the box the brooch was in opened, releasing some kind of thick white smoke. It came together to form the misty figure of a lady, which resembled the one on the brooch. It floated above her and stared into her eyes as she began sucking something out of her. Tsuyu immeasurably felt weaker. 

Then, she awoke in a cold sweat, screaming. She felt weaker, but it was probably because she’d only just woke up. Tsuyu turned to the box, took it in her hands, and opened it up. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared at first, until Tsuyu thought that the young woman’s face felt...fuller. As if there were more life in it. As if...the nightmare was real and that the lady had actually- no, that’s silly. She didn’t sleep again for the rest of the night. 

The next day Tsuyu felt particularly fatigued. Maybe it was the brooch, maybe it was the fact that she didn’t get that good of a night’s sleep. This continued for another two days, during which Tsuyu began growing thinner and thinner, and the lady in the brooch appeared fuller and fuller, and the nightmares continued. Then, Tsuyu decided she had to destroy the brooch. 

Taking quick strides to somewhere secluded where she could toss it away as soon as she was done with it, she decided a graveyard would be a decent place. It was close to the school and maybe, if it were found, the finder would assume it was someone else’s and leave it alone. Tsuyu walked into the cemetery, past rows and rows of gravestones. Then, she took the brooch out of her pocket, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it with the heel of her shoe, resulting in a satisfying crack. She brought her foot down in it again and again, until small bits of marble pieces lay everywhere, and the woman’s image was cracked and contorted, with a large hole in the side of her forehead, another crack running down the side of her face. 

Relieved by her work, Tsuyu turned to leave, abandoning the evil jewellery piece and whatever thing haunted it, when her foot got caught on one of the roots and she pitched forward, her head landing on the corner of a cross. She slumped over against it, with a hole in the left side of her forehead and blood running down the side of her face, just as the crack did.


	8. The Mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was actually also based off of not a story from the series, but loosely from another horror story titled “Frank, Hide” by Josh Malerman.

Tokoyami shuttered a bit. These were getting pretty crazy. However, as he had been (incorrectly) reassured, he felt that these wouldn’t cause a lot of harm. It was night by now, and Tokoyami was going to bed soon. Maybe just one more story before sleeping...

“Denki brushed off some of the dust with his sleeve.” 

Denki brushed off some of the dust with his sleeve. Then, looking into it, he saw himself, his own splitting image. The rather large mirror he held in his hands was in pretty much perfect condition, except for a single hairline crack that ran across the middle. This was a yard sale, after all. Denki couldn’t expect anything too much. He smiled into his reflection and brushed away the rest of the dust, then wiping his sleeve across his pant leg before holding it with both hands and lifting it higher in the air. This would look great on his wall. He paid for and walked back to UA with it. Although Denki had a bit of trouble finding a proper spot for it, he decided just above the foot of his bed would be alright. He could even see a bit of his head when he lay down. 

That night, Denki awoke randomly to a sound, the sound of tapping, tapping on glass. Strange, who could be up at this hour? Tired, he stumbled out of bed and sauntered over to his balcony, then opening the curtains to...no one. His balcony was empty, but the tapping continued. Where was it coming from? That’s when Denki heard it from behind him. He spun around to see a figure in the mirror. It didn’t look like him, it was tall and black and had no facial features or hair except for two white, circular, glowing eyes. It held a long finger up, continually tapping at its side of the glass. Horrified, Denki kept for the light switch, and the lights came on and the figure was gone. Maybe it was a hallucination. 

Denki walked onto his bed again and knelt in front of his mirror to make sure everything was still alright. He put a hand on the glass, and the another, but all he could see was his reflection, his shaken, confused reflection. Denki then noticed something move out of the corner of his eye, behind his mirrored self. It was the figure, reaching towards his shoulder. He spun around again to...nothing. Maybe he was just tired. Then he noticed the time, 2:30 am. Of course. He was only tired. Maybe everything just wasn’t real, maybe he was just half-dreaming still. But then a hand grabbed his shoulder which he could swear was very real. He turned back to the mirror and came face to face with the thing, the thing that used to lurk in only the mirror. Despite it being only past midnight, he screamed on the top of his lungs before the thing grabbed his other shoulder and pulled him in.


	9. The Disturbance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it seems our great wise one has finally realized what’s going on.

Later that night, Tokoyami woke up to a scream. A very loud one, then a crash and the sound of someone being dragged before it all went silent. Irritated and groggy, he got up to search for the source of the sound. After wandering for some time, he came to Kirishima’s dorm, but his door was wide open. Curious and concerned, he went inside, expecting a dead body on the bed or blood on the floor, but got nothing.

The dorm room was empty. Tokoyami took another step inside. Nothing seemed too out of place when he thought he noticed something on the ground. Not blood, but nail marks. Long scratches on the ground that led from the middle of the dorm all the way under the bed. Then Tokoyami remembers the story. 

“No...this cannot be,” Tokoyami muttered to himself at the realization, “there’s no way that book could’ve done this!” If it did, however, then that means that Iida and Todoroki were-no, it was best not to think about that now. Who died next, again? Was it...Kaminari, or Uraraka, or...oh, Asui! Immediately he raced to Asui’s dorm, almost colliding with Bakugo, who was going to see what was going on. 

“Watch it, Bird Brain,” Bakugo grunted. Tokoyami ignored him. When he got to Audi’s dorm, he began desperately pounding at the door, which opened up to a mildly aggravated Asui. 

“Tokoyami? Why’re you up at this hour?” Asui asked, still sleepy. 

“Do you happen to have found a brooch lately? Specifically one made of marble with a golden framing and a lady carved on it?” Tokoyami nervously pressed. 

“Well, yeah. How’d you know?” That was all Tokoyami needed to hear before pushing past Asui and searching her room. “Tokoyami! What’re you doing?” 

“You may despise me afterwards, right now I’m saving your life!” 

Asui watched in shock as Tokoyami pulled out the box with the brooch, opened it, and took out the small clip, throwing it on the ground. Without really thinking, Asui charged at Tokoyami, not wanting anymore damage on the brooch. Tokoyami fell with a thud, dropping the brooch under her bed unknowingly, hitting his head on the bedside stand. He got up, the back of his head throbbing. Forgetting about the brooch, he silently trudged back to his room with Asui ribbiting apologies from hers. Maybe it was time to get some rest. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe this was all a dream.


	10. The Second Disturbance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What an original title.
> 
> And I’m so sorry for the random inactivity! I’ll be working on this a lot more frequently now! Thanks for the patience!

Tokoyami lay in bed that night still semi-concerned. If the book really was killing people, then he had just willingly set off three more of those. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep. Maybe in the morning he’d find the book gone and that none of this were real.

But then it was real. 2:15 am when Tokoyami was awoken by a shriek. The second disturbance that night, what was going on? Even more sleepy, he stumbled out of his room and into the hallway. Where had that come from? Who screamed so loud in the middle of the night? It sounded like...Asui? Tokoyami strode down the hall towards Audi’s dorm to check up on her, rapidly knocking on her door without regards to who might be sleeping at that time. 

On the other side of the door, Asui was frozen in shock from what she’d just experienced, and was startled by the sudden knock. Without thinking, she walked up to it and unlocked it and tried to open it, but it didn’t move. The knob was turning, but the door refused to budge. Tokoyami tried his side of the door as well, but it didn’t work either. Asui wouldn’t die today anyways, so she still had time. Then Tokoyami’s mind drifted to Kaminari, who was sure to die next. With that, Tokoyami turned and began running for Kaminari’s dorm. 

He was only halfway down the hall when another scream emanated, this time from Kaminari’s dorm, followed by the shatter of glass. When Tokoyami reached his destination, he began desperately fumbling with the handle, trying to get it open before Aizawa was (irritatedly) brought to the scene and unlocked the door. Inside, Kaminari was gone. His curtains were open and his light was on, but nothing was more strange than the mirror. The glass had broken and was scattered all over the foot of Kaminari’s bed.

“Go back to bed. I’ll take care of this,” Aizawa ordered. Tokoyami hesitates for a second, then scuffled back to his room. Now he wondered what had happened to Todoroki and Iida.


	11. The Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this hasn’t been as active lately!

Tokoyami woke up the next day to his alarm clock. After swinging his arm in all directions on his stand to silence it, an attempt was successful and he sat up. Still a little tired and uneasy from last night, he decided to fix himself up something to eat. Tokoyami walked into his kitchen, pulled some bread out of his fridge, and slipped it into a toaster. Then, he sat at his desk, trying to wake himself up, and waited.

It took a few minutes, but when the ch-chink of the toaster sounded, signalling that the bread was ready, Tokoyami was already more awake than he was when he woke up. He stood and walked over to the toaster, found a plate, and plopped his breakfast onto it. After taking a few bites of his breakfast, he decided to get dressed for the day. Tonight was the dance, after all. As he turned towards his bed, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the book on the floor opened. Tokoyami must’ve knocked it off trying to turn off his alarm clock. He kneeled down and took it in his lap, desperately hoping he hadn’t just killed another person. His hopes were quickly shattered when the red-font story appeared to be a new one.

“Katsuki examined the disk.”


	12. The Disk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting story for this one, actually. It’s based off of a Swedish urban legend originally titled “Pink Hands” I first heard of while listening to an episode of the Something Scary podcast. I can’t find it anywhere now. Check out the podcast, though, they’re also on YouTube under the channel name “Snarled.” Really awesome for horror fans.

Katsuki examined the disk. It was a CD, one he had just gotten from a store. It seemed rather new, that is, with the exception of the case it was found in. He looked it over and found no label of what song or music this would play. There was nothing on the case either, except for what appeared to be a quickly scrawled note in red pen. 

  
“Whatever you do, do NOT play this disk when you are home alone or by yourself. It will find you.”  


Wasn’t that exactly what the store clerk said to him? Katsuki remembered the walk home from there. It was a bit awkward. He remembered taking a small trail through the woods behind UA, taking a small turn and passing by an old well and a shed, then pushing open a gate and getting in campus, walking back to the dorms through a small garden the students had set up. But hey, Katsuki was Katsuki, and he wasn’t about to follow any warnings. This would be the last time he did so.  


Katsuki didn’t have a disc player, so he borrowed one from Kyoka. He slid the disc into it and plugged in his earbuds. Immediately, the music began playing. The tune was catchy and really cheerful. It managed to get Bakugo to smirk a bit. Then, a male voice came on, a low male voice.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a forest, found a forest.”  


Katsuki was a little weirded out by the lyrics, but just assumed this was just one of those songs.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a trail, found a trail.”  


Katsuki’s mind drifted back to his walk home. The forest, the trail, nah, that was silly.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, took a turn, took a turn.”  


“Tch, a lot of forest trials have turns,” Katsuki muttered to himself, “stop being so paranoid.”  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, around a well, around a well.”  


Maybe this song was about someone getting water for their family. Corny meaning, yes, but it was a nice song.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a shed, found a shed.”  


Katsuki tried not to think about the trail. Focus on the music. That was all that mattered at that moment.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a gate, found a gate.”  


Maybe this songwriter walked down the same trail Katsuki did earlier for inspiration.  
“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a school, found a school.”  


The inspiration theory was plausible. Anything to make this situation more rational and less...admittedly creepy.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, through a garden, through a garden.”  


Katsuki tore his earbuds out and ejected the disk, throwing it off his balcony for someone else to take care of. The music was gone now, but the singing didn’t stop.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a building, found a building.”  


It seemed to come from behind the dorms.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found an entrance, found an entrance.”  


Katsuki scuffled for an answer as he heard the creak of the back door opening.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, up the stairs, up the stairs.”  


The voice was the same voice from the song. It was coming up the stairwell.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, down a hallway, down a hallway.”  


Footsteps emanated from down his hall, slow, heavy footsteps and stopped right in front of his door. He dove for the closet and shut himself inside.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a door, found a door.”  


It was right outside Katsuki’s dorm now, the voice low and almost coaxing. He tried to stay as still and silent as possible. It didn’t help.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a closet, found a closet.”  


Katsuki could feel himself shaking as the footsteps traveled to right in front of his hiding place. Suddenly, the doors flew open and he came face to face with the man, although it could barely be referred to as that. It had nothing on its smooth head except for a mouth, now twisted into a wide, toothy grin. Its skin was pale, so pale, as if this thing hadn’t seen sunlight in years. It was in a large, black suit with a blue tie and baggy, brown pants. The thing stood tall above the now fearing-for-his-life Katsuki. Then, it sang again.  


“Blue cheeks, blue cheeks, found a boy, found a boy.”  


Then it reached out for him.


	13. The Attempt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, a failed attempt at destroying the book. If you’re still reading this, thanks! You don’t know how much that means to me!

Class flew by way too quickly. Tokoyami couldn’t even pay attention half the time, he was too busy worrying about the book and what he was going to do with it. He had to destroy it somehow. He had to, for the sake of everyone at UA. He’d already killed, what, like seven people already? Tokoyami wasn’t ready for another.  
Kuroiro sat at his desk in his dorm later that day, flipping through his phone when he received a message from his semi-bird friend.

“Meet me in front of the house at five. Bring matches.” 

Tokoyami waited anxiously for Kuroiro to arrive in a clearing in front of the Komu family house. He’d already found an empty steel drum and filled most of it with sand, with the book some space below the rim. He was going to burn this evil thing. Tokoyami has also found some gasoline in the garden for the wood chipper and brought it with him. News of Iida’s and Todoroki’s deaths had reached UA, but Tokoyami would rather be not think about that. Eventually, Kuroiro arrived and handed Tokoyami a small box of matches. 

“Why’re we here?” Kuroiro asked. 

“This book, it’s been murdering my peers,” Tokoyami almost excitedly responded with, “we’re destroying it today.” 

Tokoyami picked up the jerry can and doused the book in gasoline, then setting it down and gesturing for the matches, which Kuroiro handed to him. Striking one on the side, he flicked it into he barrel and flames erupted from the brim. The duo stepped back a bit, not being to used to the brightness, but eventually adjusted. A few minutes passed and the fire died down. 

“Do you think it worked?” Kuroiro asked, a little frantic. 

“It should’ve. It may be haunted, but it’s still made of paper, after all.” 

The smoke was only beginning to clear, so Tokoyami slowly walked towards the barrel, not knowing what to expect, and kicked it over. The dust that rose from the spill, the smoke, none of that could’ve hid the distraught, horrified expression on their faces. As right there, in the middle of the sand strewn across the ground, was the book, intact as it had been, flipped wide open and the rosy print moving across the page again. 

Without really thinking, Tokoyami dove for the book, knowing it was already too late. He picked it up, not caring about how hot it was or how it burned his hands. He stared at the pages in defeat and began reading the lines again. “Hanta strolled through he field.”


	14. The Scarecrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda took this scene from the movie and made some changes to it. Writer’s block is a ███.

Hanta strolled through the field. Classes were over and he’d decided to freshen up by taking a walk through some abandoned farmer’s territory near the school. It was a nice day, the sun was out with a few clouds in the sky. On his first lap around the perimeter, Hanta passed by an old scarecrow. It creeped him out a bit, but it’s been here for who knows how long, so he gave it a few playful slaps to the face as if trying to wake someone to lighten the mood. He chuckled to himself and continued walking.

Hanta continued to do so every lap when, on his fifth, he found that the scarecrow had disappeared. Strange, maybe someone stole it, but he’d never seen anyone around. What, did it get off its post and walk away? The thought was silly, but it still gave Hanta chills at the thought. He kept walking. It was getting a bit dark, so he decided to head back, and just as he walked by the barn, he heard a rustle. Hanta jumped a bit, then looked around. Nothing. He picked up the pace and walked faster when the rustling was heard again. Quizzically, he turned to and walked towards the double doors, of which had already been opened, and peeked inside. Then, something pushed him from behind and he fell face first onto the dusty, unkept floor. Turning around, he saw the scarecrow, now standing on two legs, peering down at him with its frozen, stoic expression. 

Hanta screamed and scampered backwards, unable to find his footing and stand up. The scarecrow followed after him with dry, dragged footsteps. The frightened young man frantically looked around for something to defend himself with, picking up a pitchfork and skidding to his feet. Terrified, he ran towards the scarecrow and rammed the pitchfork into its belly, knocking it backwards and letting Hanta run, which he did, when only a few meters later he fell forward at a piercing pain in his back. 

Hanta lay on his side and looked up at the scarecrow, which had found him again and impaled him with the pitchfork. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t kill him, so he didn’t even bother with trying to pull it out and stood up to run again, but his legs felt weaker and made a crunching noise, as it full of straw. He felt a horrible pain in his stomach emanating from the pitchfork and it spread through his veins and arteries and suddenly, he felt something come up and out his mouth. There, a bundle of straw sat, which came right out of him. 

Hanta tried to crawl away, but his arms were too weak. He felt his skin dry and crack with every movement and began spitting up more and more bouts of straw. He felt himself bloat up and a more agonizing pain as more bundles of dried grass pierced through his skin. There was no blood, only straw. 

Hanta tore fistfuls and fistfuls of the stuff from his mouth, trying to scream but only letting out a silent, raspy whisper. The scarecrow only watched in content as the frantic boy went through his horrible transformation. Then, Hanta stopped moving. The scarecrow picked him up and slung him over his shoulder, pulling out the pitchfork first. He carried the new decoration to his original stand and propped him up. Hanta would be remain here for a while.


	15. The Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t forget about this I’m just a procrastinator lol

Tokoyami and Kuroiro hurried back to UA to try to save Bakugo, or at least Sero. Eventually, the came upon Ojiro, who was taking a stroll outside. According to him, Bakugo hadn’t shown up to class that day. How had Tokoyami not noticed? He grabbed Kuroiro’s wrist and pulled him along to Bakugo’s dorm, which he found the door was unlocked. Slowly, he pushed it open and took a step inside. It was empty.

“Search the room for signs of Bakugo or where he might be,” Tokoyami said. Kuroiro shrugged and walked over to the closet, opened it, and stepped back with a slight gasp. Tokoyami turned around to see his friend face Bakugo, or rather, dead Bakugo. He had been hanged with his earbuds’ wires and had definitely been there for a long time. Tokoyami couldn’t help but note that his cheeks appeared to be a pale blue due to the lack of oxygen. There was no saving Bakugo now, without a word, Tokoyami bolted for Sero’s dorm, book still under his arm. They found his room empty as well. 

The duo sped down to the old farmer territory beside UA and found Sero already walking past the barn. That wasn’t good. Tokoyami was about to dive in and try to save him when Kuroiro pulled him back behind a bush, gesturing out to in front of the barn. There stood a scarecrow in the tall grass. Some more rustling emanated from probably behinds the barn and Sero walked inside as the two stared from behind the bush at the scarecrow walking along behind him. It pushed Sero over and a thump was heard, soon followed by a scream. They saw the scarecrow fall backwards with the pitchfork and Sero run past. Tokoyami decided enough was enough. 

The scarecrow proceeded to stand up, dropping the pitchfork, and chase Sero. Tokoyami dashed after it with the pitchfork in hand. He was going to destroy this thing. Although he wasn’t too stable as a result of his running, Tokoyami thrust the pitchfork forward and heard something fall, holding his eyes shut. The running stopped. Maybe he’d managed to stop the scarecrow and Sero was looking at him now in shock. Maybe he’d been saved. Maybe his story had ended now. Those maybe’s were turned into nope’s as Tokoyami opened his eyes to see Sero on the ground, pitchfork sticking out of his back. He heard the awful crunching and rustling of hay as his innards were converted. He heard his raspy attempt at a scream. He wanted to help, but there was no hope left for him. Tokoyami stepped aside into the tall grass before the scarecrow could turn around and notice him and watched the rest of Sero’s transformation there, distraught. Then he stopped moving. 

Tokoyami sat in the grass for what seemed like an eternity after the scarecrow had taken Sero away. He snapped back into reality with Kuroiro shaking his shoulders. The two walked back to UA, silent. The book was killing people and couldn’t be destroyed. He can’t leave it anywhere, someone would find it. And he certainly couldn’t keep it, who knows when he could knock it over or something? He’d probably need to hide it some place, somewhere no one would find it. Maybe he could bury it in the cemetery or behind the house. Behind the house sounds good. He’d go there tomorrow after class. Tokoyami really hoped it’d all turn out fine, as fine as things could be after this. 

Tokoyami parted with Kuroiro and walked into his dorm, beaten from the day he’d had. Without thinking, he dropped the book onto the floor and collapsed into his bed, unaware of what he’d set off. 

“Mina received a notification.”


	16. The Follower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry it’s been forever since I’ve last posted, I didn’t forget about this! I’ve just been caught up in some other stuff and not really motivated to work on this. Also there’s some Base 64 code in this, decode it if you wanna lol.

Mina received a notification. It was from an app she’d recently downloaded called Twottr. It was basically like any other social media app, post stuff, like stuff, and meet new people. That last one was what this notification was for. Mina has been followed by a user named “SGEgZ2F5.” She thought the name was a bit strange, but there were people like that on there. Curious, she tapped on their profile, which was rather empty except for their user bio, containing only “TXkgbmFtZSBpcyBJbmlnbyBNb250b3lhLiBZb3Uga2lsbGVkIG15IGZhdGhlci4gUHJlcGFyZSB0byBkaWUu.” Maybe they were a troll account. Either way, it was really strange. She shrugged it off as her former assumption, followed back anyways, and continued with her day.

It was after class now, Mina turned on her phone to another notification. It was a direct message from SGEgZ2F5. When she tapped on the notification, the dm interface opened up and there was nothing but a message from the other user containing the text “aHR0cHM6Ly9tLnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3dhdGNoP3Y9ZFF3NHc5V2dYY1E=“ and an image of a person in a dark cloak standing in front of a school. Weird. Probably a troll after all. But then, Mina looked closer at the sign. She recognized that name, because it was the middle school she went to. Maybe they attend the same school she did, which she’d have to admit was pretty cool, they’re closer than they think.

A few minutes later, Mina got another message from the person, this time with the text “V2h5IGFyZSB5b3UgZGVjb2RpbmcgdGhlc2UgbG9s” and an image of the same figure in front of a store, most likely in a mall. Again, she recognized the storefront, as she’d visited it just the day before. A little more weirded out, she messaged back, “um, hello?” No response. 

An hour later, Mina received another message from the same person, this time with the text “RGlkIHlvdSBub3QgbGVhcm4geW91ciBsZXNzb24gdGhlIGxhc3QgdGltZSB5b3UgdHJpZWQgZGVjb2RpbmcgdGhlc2U/“ and an image of the same figure in front of the gates of UA. Strange. Mina felt a shiver roll down he spine as she looked out her window but saw nobody anywhere near the gate. They were definitely a troll, then. 

Shortly later, she began receiving the messages more frequently, one reading “QXJlIHlvdSBzZXJpb3VzbHkgc3RpbGwgZGVjb2RpbmcgdGhlc2U=“ with an image of the figure in front of the dorms and another saying “RG8geW91IGxpdGVyYWxseSBoYXZlIG5vdGhpbmcgYmV0dGVyIHRvIGRvIHRoYW4gZGVjb2RlIHRoZXNl” with an image of the figure in a hallway. She even checked outside her door to make sure the hall was empty. Mina was very confused now. 

Then it stopped. It was the evening now and Mina had closed her blinds and turned on the lights, now lying on her bed and scrolling through her phone. That’s when she heard it. 

Tap...tap...tap... 

She sat up on her bed, curious as to what was going on. Mina walked towards her door, opened it, and saw no one. 

Tap...tap...tap... 

Mina tried to follow the sound, and realized it was coming from her balcony. 

Tap...tap...tap 

She opened up the blinds and, right there, on the other side of the window, was the figure. Mina didn’t know what to do. She just stood there, waiting for a conclusion. The figure put two hands on the window and pressed its face against the glass between them. Mina realized why it wore the hood now. Its face was has empty, all except for a large X-shaped scar that ran all across it. Mina took a step back, tripped on one of her bags, and fell backwards. Then she heard her window crick, crack, and shatter, small shards of glass spilling all over the floor. 

Mona could do nothing but watch in shock as the figure took a step into her room, the bits of window crinkling under its feet. It took a step, and another step, and another towards her, before kneeling at her feet. Then it reached a hand out.


	17. The Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh lord, it feels like forever since my last update. Sorry for the wait!

Something finally clicked in Tokoyami’s mind a few minutes later that if he was going to try to save Uraraka from the book, he should get going to the dance that night. He still had a chance, after all. Tokoyami looked up and peered at the clock. It was 7:30 pm already. The dance started half of an hour ago. Tokoyami shot up quickly and bolted for where the dance was being held, not even noticing the open book on the ground, slamming the door closed behind him carelessly.

It was a real shame, however, that Tokoyami did that, because the vibrations from the door closing to quickly caused a water bottle to fall over, hitting the floor with a thud. When Tokoyami dropped the book, it fell open at a strange angle with one side of it leaned up against his bedside stand and the other flat on the floor. The water bottle falling over was enough for another page to flip. 

“Midoriya wasn’t sure what had happened.” 

Midoriya wasn’t sure what had happened. He was absolutely certain that man had died just mere minutes before now, yet here he was right in front of him. Midoriya was out on the town one evening and was trying to get back to UA before it was too late. He waited alone at a bus stop for a bit before one finally pulled up, but when the doors opened, he saw that the bus was quite full. The driver seemed to notice his reaction and chuckled. 

“Don’t worry, there’s still space,” he said reassuringly. 

“No thanks,” Midoriya shook his head and stepped back, “I’ll wait for the next bus.” With that, the driver smirked and drove off. Midoriya turned on the phone to look at the time when he heard the skid of tires and a crash somewhere down the street followed by the drone-like noise of a car alarm. Thank goodness he hadn’t boarded that bus. When the next one finally arrived, it seemed less crowded than the other one so he stepped on and rode to the train station. 

Now, here he was again, right in front of Midoriya, with that same smirk. 

“Don’t worry, there’s still space,” he repeated. 

Midoriya shook his head and replied with a brisk “no, I’ll wait,” his voice a bit quivery. Then, the doors of the train closed and it took off. When a few seconds passed of just wheels on rails, Midoriya berated himself internally for not getting on, for he could be on his way home by now. He was just being paranoid, what if the driver just had a twin? But then the screech of metal on metal and the screams of passengers made Midoriya certain that something was very wrong. He took an alternate route home that night. 

Midoriya got off of the train in an area not near UA, so he decided he’d have to call a taxi over. So he did, and when it had finally arrived, he looked at the driver, and saw the man again, the same man who was supposed to have died in the bus and the train. 

“Come in, there’s space,” he said. 

Midoriya shook his head in disbelief. “No, I didn’t call a cab over, you must have the wrong address.” The driver shrugged and drove off, and subsequently, a few moments later, he crashed somewhere down the street. By the time Midoriya had finally gotten back to UA, it was past curfew already and he was exhausted. He was so exhausted, in fact, that he hadn’t even noticed the person inside the elevator when getting in. 

“See,” the person beside him said, “I told you there was still room.” Midoriya’s eyes widened as he looked at the person and saw the man again, looking just like all other three times he’d seen him. He was supposed to be dead. Realizing what was coming, Midoriya rushed for the buttons and desperately pushed the emergency stop, but to no avail. The elevator kept going, past his floor, before it stopped. He turned back to the man, who was in the corner now, smirking at him like he had just trapped him, which was what happened, after all. Midoriya heard a click and something snap from above and suddenly the elevator cabin began plummeting. The lights flickered and Midoriya could swear he saw the man disappear, but it didn’t matter, because it was all gone soon after too.


	18. The Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been way too long TvT
> 
> Also I can’t believe I forgot to say this in my last update but (late) happy Pride month lol. And as of now, happy Canada day too!
> 
> Anyways, I’ve been kinda unmotivated and uncreative lately. Hopefully I’ll be more active lol.

Tokoyami didn’t bother putting on a suit, he had only one thing in mind, and that was saving Uraraka. The others, or at least the ones he’d known about, had no hope now and the next thing he knew he was in the middle of a large room, surrounded by people in all directions, some faces he didn’t even recognize. He pushed through the crowd as he was jostled and shoved from every angle by partygoers and ones who were really just there for snacks. Being a bit shorter than most of the other people there, he tried going on his toes to get a better view, but ended up having to jump a bit. A wave a relief washed over him when he saw a figure in a pale dress and with neck-length brown hair, perhaps it was Uraraka.  


Tokoyami fought his way through the crowd towards the figure, hoping to inform her of what was coming. Just when he made it to where Uraraka supposedly was...wait, what? There wasn’t anyone with brown neck-length hair in a white dress, or at least, anyone he was looking for. Tokoyami had to jump a few more times to try to see where she was. He didn’t spot anyone.  
Confused and worried, Tokoyami began pushing through the crowd again, deciding to just come across Uraraka whenever. She’d show up at some point, right? Unfortunately, that was not the case. A while later, when the crowd became less, well, crowded, Tokoyami hadn’t come across Uraraka yet. Then he silently berated himself for not thinking of her dorm earlier. Walking to the doors with more ease than before, he fumbled with his thumbs as he exited and turned to the dorms.  


When Tokoyami walked through the halls anxiously and let his eyes run from door to door searching for the name, “Uraraka Ochaco.” Two floors and half of a hallway later, he finally had come across the door. Tokoyami knocked carefully. A few moments later, no answer. He knocked again, and again, and when he had gotten no response either time Tokoyami called Dark Shadow to go beneath and behind the door and unlock it. When the door opened up, he peeked in to a disappointingly empty room. Darn it.  
Grasping blindly for answers, Tokoyami rushed back to his room to check the book again. Practically throwing open the door, he took a second to process the fact that it had blown another page of the book open. Tokoyami took a step, but tripped over himself, falling to the floor. He crawled over and stared down onto the page, the red writing crawling across it again.

“Shihai struck a match.”


	19. The Candle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m STILL ALIVE AAAAAAAAAA
> 
> Anyways, if you’re still here then I’d just like to say thank you so much for putting up with my procrastination and stuff lol.
> 
> Now, we’re not quite done yet and there’ll be maybe two or three more chapters.

Shihai struck a match. He had decided to maybe try a new look for his room, taking a bit of inspiration from his bird-headed friend, with candles here and there, one of which he’d actually borrowed from Fumikage. Shihai has placed them in a few nooks and crannies like the corner of his desk, on a shelf, and on his bedside stand, and now he was lighting them all. Thirteen candles in total.

One, two, three, he started from his door and went counterclockwise around his room, lighting the two on a shelf and another in the corner of his counter. Four, five, six, he walked around and lit the candles on his counter, beside the sink, and at the foot of the bed. Seven, eight, nine, he sets alight the sticks at the head of his bed, on the bedside stand, and on his windowsill. Ten, eleven, twelve, he walked back around to his desk, lighting one in the corner, another beside the lamp, and walking back beside the door to light the one beside the light switch. And lastly, thirteen, he lifted his hand up and lit the last one directly above his door. Switching off the lights now and blowing out his match, his dorm was illuminated by a moody glow, like the one you’d be accompanied by reading books under the covers when you’re supposed to be asleep. Shihai smiled at the ambience.

That night, Shihai woke up to a sound. He couldn’t quite describe the sound, it was unearthly and malevolent but empty at the same time. He opened his eyes and sat up and saw that all the candles were still burning. Then, he spotted a shadowy figure in the corner. It slowly moved towards the first candle to the right of the door, and blew it out. A bit frightened, Shihai watched as it floated over to the second, third, and fourth candles, blowing them all out in the order he had lit them earlier. And out went the fifth, sixth, and seventh candles. He felt himself get warm and something drip down the side of his head. Immediately, Shihai moved a hand there to see what it was, and was extremely concerned when his fingers slid into his head. It’d penetrated his skull like clay, like soft wax. Then, candles number eight, nine, and ten go put as well. Shihai was frozen in place as he felt himself soften, and he could even swear he even saw a finger flow off of his hand.

The figure had almost made a full round around his room now, putting out candles number eleven and twelve, but thirteen never went out. Shihai finally mustered up the strength to move and quickly got up and out of his dorm. As soon as he took a step out of his door, however, his leg melted away and he met the floor front-first. He tried to scream, to somehow alert someone, anyone, but nothing came out as his throat was full of melted wax. He took a sharp breath in, or tried to, as he reached an arm forward to pull himself along. Shihai managed a few heaves, but found his arms grow soft and liquify as well. Immobile and terrified, Shihai truly hoped more than he ever had that this was nothing more than a realistic nightmare.

Unfortunately for Shihai, the odds were not in his favour and he completely liquified seconds later. However, the next day, there was no black puddle in his dorm or in the hallway, there was no trace left of him, except for the single black candle Fumikage had left him. It was still burning.


	20. The Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what, we’re almost done! Half a year later and Tokoyami is finally almost free of this! Still maybe a chapter left to come tho.

Tokoyami stared at the words on the page in a mixture of confusion and disbelief. He definitely had already lent Kuroiro a candle, but that was a whole week ago. If Kuroiro really was dead, then who, or what, had he been talking to and experiencing this whole nightmare with this whole time? No, doesn’t the book only cause future events to happen? If not, then how had it managed to create a copy of Kuroiro so...identical? Was this thing even related to the book?

Tokoyami was even more afraid than he was curious, but some of these questions were to be answered as he heard a chuckle come from just behind his shoulder, causing him to jump.

“So, I guess the secret’s out.” The voice resembled Kuroiro’s voice so closely, but something was off about it. It was just a bit too high like someone had knocked a tuning pin out of place, and the usually sly and sarcastic hue of his voice had been replaced with one Tokoyami...didn’t like. He spun around to come face-to-face with the not-quite-Kuroiro, and Tokoyami saw now for the first time this clearly what exactly had been following his story. It looked like Kuroiro, but everything just wasn’t right. Its left eye was just a bit higher than its right, the hair was too short in some places, and its ears were totally missing.

“I’d have to say, Fumikage,” it began in its off-voice, “I’m impressed. Not a lot of people I’ve seen have gone this far, killed so many people.” Tokoyami shook his head slowly and tried to form words, but his throat felt dry and nothing came out. He lifted an arm in front of him in a defensive manner as his other arm was multitasking between fumbling for the book and trying to shakily support himself. The thing bent in closer. “Thanks for taking care of so much of my job. Now, just one more little birdie to get rid of.” As those last sentences came to a finish, Tokoyami noted the malicious thread sewn into its words. He grabbed the book.

“Get away!” Tokoyami yelled in confusion and horror as he kicked the thing right in the shin, sending it falling, muttering a curse underneath its breath. Tokoyami took this chance and quickly stumbled to his feet, running out of his still open door with the book under his arm. If there’s one thing he hadn’t tried, it was returning this godforsaken object to its original place. As he turned to bolt for the stairs, the figure appeared right in front of the door to the stairwell, smirking at him as if it were expecting him.

“There’s no point in running, I’ll find you either way.” The thing taunted Tokoyami. He grimaced lightly and ran for the elevator, but when the cabin arrived the thing was standing right inside. It seemed wronger than before now, its shoulder was further from the middle than the other, and, wait, did it have six fingers? Fine. If the stairs and elevator weren’t an option, Tokoyami would take the window instead.

The fall wasn’t as bad as Fumikage had originally thought, seeing as it was only from the second floor after all. He’d landed initially on his feet, but pitched forward quickly at the impact, hurting his beak. Tokoyami winced as he pulls himself upright, a horrible pain pulses in his ankle. Just when he thought this couldn’t get any worse. He hesitated at first, but painfully pressed on as the doors behind swing open. Tokoyami didn’t even look behind him, he already knew what came out. Tripping over himself again, or rather collapsing because of his sprained ankle, Tokoyami barely saved the book from falling open again as he rushingly recomposed himself and continued running before the off-Kuroiro could catch up to him.

Tokoyami knew it was late, but since when did it get dark so quickly? The thick forest wrapped around him like a shadowy maze, the underbrush and branches and leaves crunching to his desperate footsteps as he barely avoids running into a tree, almost falling over in the process. Which way was the house again? Take a left at the shed and then another left at the well? Or take a right at the well? He was really aimlessly running at this point hoping for a miracle. His heart racing just as fast as his breath, Tokoyami checked over his shoulder before colliding with another tree. Then he blacked out.


	21. THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nani? A chapter update less than a week after the last? WHAAAAAAT?
> 
> Anyways, this is the end of SStTitD! Thank you so much for reading and thank you so much for putting up with my procrastination!

When Tokoyami awoke, he was still face-up in the forest at the foot of a tree. It was daytime now as well, but Tokoyami thought it was rather strange how no one had found him. Was he that lost? Standing up, he was issued a painful reminder of his sprained ankle, Tokoyami gasping lightly at it. Supporting himself against a tree, he looked around and notices that the book had disappeared. Argh, dammit. Tokoyami started hobbling around looking for some way out.

By the time Tokoyami had reached civilization again, it seemed like at least an hour had passed and he had to circle around the forest a bit to get back to UA. When he walked onto campus, he didn’t see anyone walking around, but that was expected if it was either the weekend or class time. Peeking into the classroom with a half-baked apology and excuse, he walked into...nothing. No one was there. Strange, it was midday. How long had Tokoyami been out for? Before he left, he questioned why the room was totally empty; no desks or chairs or podium.

Now wandering to the dorm building, his ankle still throbbing, Tokoyami now realized it was disturbingly silent, except for his own breathing and the sound of his footsteps. The timid birdsong that usually rang out around this time of day wasn’t anywhere to be heard, and neither was Bakugo’s usual yelling or Sero’s usual laughing or Aizawa’s usual disappointed sighing. Shivering slightly from a sudden breeze, he reached the doors of the dorm and pushed them open, noting that they were much more resistant and creakier than he’d remembered them to be. There wasn’t anyone in the common room either, which is where his classmates usually hung out and conversed and laughed until they were red at something stupid another person did. There wasn’t just no one there, it was empty. The elevator didn’t seem to be working so he took the stairs up instead.

Now walking down his hallway, Tokoyami was a bit disturbed by the monotone buzz of overhead lights, and was even more concerned when he pushed open his dorm door to find an empty room. Where the hell had all his stuff gone? Walking next door to Midoriya’s dorm, the knock had pushed the door open all on its own, it seemed as if the knob wasn’t functional anymore. His dorm was empty too. That’s when Tokoyami realized that Dark Shadow, who would be making some snarky or ridiculous comment by now, was absent as well. Forget everyone’s stuff, where was everybody?

By the time Tokoyami had checked each dorm, his heart had sank into his stomach and the pain in his ankle seemed like the last thing he’d been worrying about. He peered out of a window and spotted a figure some distance outside. Finally, a glint of hope lit up inside him as he awkwardly stumbled back down the stairs and out of the door. Reaching a hand out and nervously chuckling, he saw that the figure was very pale and had long, dark, tangled hair that cloaked a very plump body. As if sensing him, they turned around. They had beady eyes, and their neck was completely hidden.

“Oh, hello Fumikage,” they began, “I’ve been looking for you.” Tokoyami stopped. Wait, what? The figure chuckled as if an old friend talking to someone struggling to remember them. “Don’t you remember me?” Tokoyami’s relief was completely washed out by a horrible dread. He knew that voice. It was the very one that had taken his closest friend and taunted him in his own room and chased him through a forest. Now he was here, in this off-world where there was no one else and there was nothing else. The thing from before stared back, a wide smile forming on its unearthly white face. Tokoyami realized that he had not escaped the book. In fact, this was it. This was his story. It had been his story all along. It was the first one written. Meanwhile, on the other side, Tokoyami is currently in a hospital bed in a coma with some of his remaining friends looking down at him, some shakily breathing, some paranoid, some more worried than they should be, all of them concerned. For now, however, Tokoyami was trapped here, trapped in this not-quite-right other dimension to be forever afraid, forever chased...

...forever alone.

THE END


End file.
